On the automaticity of frequency coding: Effects of competing task load, encoding strategy, and intention.

In 3 experiments, using a total of 207 undergraduates, 2 criteria of central importance to the identification of an automatic process were studied: insensitivity to competing task loads and to strategy manipulation. Past experimentation using these criteria has led to the view that judgments of frequency of occurrence are a result of an automatic process. Exp I reexamined the effect of competing load. Results indicate that judgments of frequency were markedly affected by the level of difficulty of a secondary task. Results from Exp II, in which the level of processing was manipulated in conjunction with intention, suggest that although intention to code frequency may not have an effect on frequency judgments under all conditions, there are strategic effects on coding nonetheless. In Exp III, variation in intentionality and presentation time of words was included to show that under some conditions, in fact, an effect of intention can be found as well. Taken together, the results question the view that frequency judgments are the result of an automatic process. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and memory for frequency of occurrence of novel, visual stimuli: Direct and indirect measures.

Memory for frequency of occurrence typically is investigated using familiar stimuli (e.g., words) and with "direct" tests of memory; that is, the S is required to state explicitly how often an item occurred or which item occurred more often. Exps 1 and 2 examined the effects of age on the ability to make judgments (i.e., direct tests) regarding the frequency of occurrence of words and of novel, visual stimuli (Japanese ideograms). In Exp 3, young and old Ss were compared on "indirect" measures of memory for frequency of occurrence of these ideograms, as indexed by the mere exposure effect. On the direct test of memory, elderly and young Ss did not differ when shown words, but elderly were impaired compared with young Ss when ideograms were presented. When tested indirectly, both groups were sensitive to the frequency of occurrence of ideograms. The pattern of results replicates and extends previous findings regarding performance dissociations between direct and indirect measures of memory in aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Availability heuristic in judgments of set size and frequency of occurrence.

The availability heuristic has been widely cited as an important factor in the judgment process. However, the evidence that availability is important in judging category size is not fully convincing. Moreover, several reports suggest that availability may not be a factor in judging frequency of occurrence. Path analysis was used in 3 experiments designed to assess the role of memorial availability in judgments of category size and frequency of occurrence. In judging set size, there was consistent support for the availability heuristic (i.e., set size judgments were reliably influenced by the contents of memory). By contrast, in accordance with earlier results, availability was not a significant factor when Ss judged frequency of occurrence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postrecognition of interleaved melodies as an indirect measure of auditory stream formation.

Primitive processes involved in auditory stream formation are measured with an indirect, objective method. A target melody interleaved with a distractor sequence is followed by a probe melody that was identical to the target or differed by 2 notes. Listeners decided whether the probe melody was present or not in the composite sequence. Interleaved melody recognition is not possible when distractor sequences have the same mean frequency and maximum contour crossover with target melodies. Performance increases with mean frequency separation and timbral dissimilarity and is unaffected by the duration of the silent interval between composite sequence and probe melody. The relation between this indirect task measuring the interleaved melody recognition boundary and direct judgments measuring the fission boundary is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Haptic exploration in the presence of vision.

Two experiments addressed initiation of haptic exploration to encode object properties when vision is present. Ss compared pairs of objects on designated properties, using only vision or with touch permitted. Touch initiation, reach, contact, and visual responses were timed. With difficult material judgments, touch occurred frequently and was initiated faster than the time to respond by vision alone. With geometric judgments, touch was rarely used and then was initiated at the typical time for a visual response. Imposing a visual preview before allowing touch did not reduce the incidence of touch but did speed its initiation. Results support a model in which preliminary visual processing quickly initiates haptic exploration for material judgments that are visually or semantically difficult. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and indirect social influence on children's legal judgments.

Attempted to replicate the recent indirect influence phenomenon (H. D. Saltzstein et al, see record 1966-07558-001) with children and to demonstrate that direct influence declines with age while indirect influence increases with age. 176 3rd-8th graders from 2 parochial schools were required to make prison-sentence judgments based on tape recordings of 2 specially prepared criminal cases. Experimental Ss made initial judgments about sentence length in Case 1, were informed of the judge's sentence of 11 yrs and 6 mo, and made final decisions about sentence length. Experimental Ss then made decisions about sentence length for Case 2, were informed of the judge's sentence of 11 yrs 6 mo, and made final decisions about sentence length. Controls also made initial and final judgments for both cases but were not apprised of the judge's decision in either. Change from the initial to final sentence in Case 1 was the direct influence measure, while change from the initial sentence in Case 1 and Case 2 was the indirect influence measure. Data analysis revealed that there was a significant decline in direct influence with grade but no difference in indirect influence. Further research contrasting tests of indirect influence where the S either does or does not anticipate encounters with an influence agent is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How do we know that we know? The accessibility model of the feeling of knowing

Even when Ss fail to recall a solicited target, they can provide feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments about its availability in memory. Most previous studies addressed the question of FOK accuracy, only a few examined how FOK itself is determined, and none asked how the processes assumed to underlie FOK also account for its accuracy. The present work examined all 3 questions within a unified model, with the aim of demystifying the FOK phenomenon. The model postulates that the computation of FOK is parasitic on the processes involved in attempting to retrieve the target, relying on the accessibility of pertinent information. It specifies the links between memory strength, accessibility of correct and incorrect information about the target, FOK judgments, and recognition memory. Evidence from 3 experiments is presented. The results challenge the view that FOK is based on a direct, privileged access to an internal monitor.     

Nonconscious indirect inferences in encoding.

Indirect (transitive) inference (i.e., if A is related to B, and B is related to C, then C is related to A) is a ubiquitous component of thinking and reasoning. This research demonstrates that a mechanism at least functionally similar to drawing indirect inferences can also be observed in unintentional processes of encoding. The 2 studies followed the same design and used modified versions of procedures tested in previous research on nonconscious information processing (P. Lewicki et al, see record 1992-33878-001). In the 1st learning phase, Ss acquired an encoding algorithm relating Variables A and B. In the 2nd learning phase, Variable A was removed from the material and replaced with Variable C, allowing Ss to acquire the second encoding algorithm (relating B and C). Consistent with the original studies, Ss were not aware that there were any consistencies in the material. In the testing phase material, Variable B was removed, and Ss were asked to make intuitive judgments regarding Variable A. The data from both experiments confirmed the expectation that Ss would implicitly draw indirect inferences (A on the basis of C). This process is discussed as 1 of the mechanisms that may trigger the development of various components of procedural knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for auditory temporal distinctiveness: Modality effects in order and frequency judgments.

Two new, long-lasting phenomena involving modality of stimulus presentation are documented. In one series of experiments we investigated effects of modality of presentation on order judgments. Order judgments for auditory words were more accurate than order judgments for visual words at both the beginning and the end of lists, and the auditory advantage increased with the temporal separation of the successive items. A second series of experiments investigated effects of modality on estimates of presentation frequency. Frequency estimates of repeated auditory words exceeded frequency estimates of repeated visual words. The auditory advantage increased with frequency of presentation, and this advantage was not affected by the retention interval. These various effects were taken as support for a temporal coding assumption, that auditory presentation produces a more accurate encoding of time of presentation than does visual presentation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Grounding spatial language in perception: An empirical and computational investigation.

The present paper grounds the linguistic categorization of space in aspects of visual perception; specifically, the structure of projective spatial terms such as above are grounded in the process of attention and in vector-sum coding of overall direction. This is formalized in the attentional vector-sum (AVS) model. This computational model accurately predicts linguistic acceptability judgments for spatial terms, under a variety of spatial configurations. In 7 experiments, the predictions of the AVS model are tested against those of 3 competing models. The results support the AVS model and disconfirm its competitors. The authors conclude that the structure of linguistic spatial categories can be partially explained in terms of independently motivated perceptual processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of the total similarity principle: Effects of similarity on frequency judgments.

Memory models that embody the total similarity principle (e.g., G. Gillund and R. Shiffrin, see PA, Vol 71:8340; D. Hintzman, see PA, Vol 76:10832; B. Murdock, see PA, Vol 69:4936; and R. Ratcliff, see PA, Vol 77:18992) assume that frequency judgments reflect the total similarity of a test item to stimuli that have been studied. In 4 experiments, Ss estimated the frequencies of target words that had been presented in the context of varying numbers of semantically similar words. In a 5th experiment, Ss made forced-choice relative frequency judgments. The results of these experiments supported 1 prediction of total similarity models: Presenting similar words will increase rather than decrease frequency judgments of target words. However, a 2nd prediction of these models was not supported. In particular, similar-word presentations had no effect on the judged frequencies of target words that had not been shown. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgments of frequency and recognition memory in a multiple-trace memory model.

The multiple-trace simulation model, {minerva} 2, was applied to a number of phenomena found in experiments on relative and absolute judgments of frequency, and forced-choice and yes–no recognition memory. How the basic model deals with effects of repetition, forgetting, list length, orientation task, selective retrieval, and similarity and how a slightly modified version accounts for effects of contextual variability on frequency judgments were shown. Two new experiments on similarity and recognition memory were presented, together with appropriate simulations; attempts to modify the model to deal with additional phenomena were also described. Questions related to the representation of frequency are addressed, and the model is evaluated and compared with related models of frequency judgments and recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptation is automatic

Two experiments were used to test whether selective adaptation for speech occurs automatically or instead requires attentional resources. A control condition demonstrated the usual large identification shifts caused by repeatedly presenting an adapting sound (/wa/, with listeners identifying members of a /ba/-/wa/ test series). Two types of distractor tasks were used: (1) Subjects did a rapid series of arithmetic problems during the adaptation periods (Experiments 1 and 2), or (2) they made a series of rhyming judgments, requiring phonetic coding (Experiment 2). A control experiment (Experiment 3) demonstrated that these tasks normally impose a heavy attentional cost on phonetic processing. Despite this, for both experimental conditions, the observed adaptation effect was just as large as in the control condition. This result indicates that adaptation is automatic, operating at an early, preattentive level. The implications of these results for current models of speech perception are discussed.     

The relationship between memory and judgment depends on whether the judgment task is memory-based or on-line.

Five alternative information processing models that relate memory for evidence to judgments based on the evidence are identified in the current social cognition literature: independent processing, availability, biased retrieval, biased encoding, and incongruity-biased encoding. A distinction between 2 types of judgment tasks, memory-based vs online, is introduced and is related to the 5 process models. In 3 experiments, using memory-based tasks where the availability model described Ss' thinking, direct correlations between memory and judgment measures were obtained. In a 4th experiment, using online tasks where any of the remaining 4 process models may apply, prediction of the memory–judgment relationship was equivocal but usually followed the independence model prediction of zero correlation. It is concluded that memory and judgment will be directly related when the judgment was based directly on the retrieval of evidence information in memory-based judgment tasks. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency judgments: The problem of defining a perceptual event.

In four experiments the conditions under which frequency judgments reflect the relative frequency of complex perceptual events were explored. Ss viewed a series of 4?×?4 grids each containing seven items, which were letters and numbers in one of four typefaces. Later judgments of the relative frequency with which particular letters appeared in particular typefaces were unaffected by a warning about an upcoming frequency judgment task, but were affected by both the time available for processing the stimuli and the nature of the cover task subjects engaged in while viewing the grids. Frequency judgments were poor when exposure durations were less than 2 and when the cover task directed subjects' attention merely to the locations of the items within the grids. Frequency judgments improved when the cover task directed subjects' attention to the identity of the stimuli, especially to the conjunction of letter and typeface. The results suggest that frequency estimation of complex stimuli may be possible only for stimuli that have been processed as phenomenal objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does aging influence people's metacomprehension? Effects of processing ease on judgments of text learning.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether age-related differences exist in metacomprehension by evaluating predictions based on the ease-of-processing (EOP) hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, judgments of how well a text has been learned are based on how easily each text was processed; easier processing results in higher judgments. Participants read either sentence pairs or longer texts and judged their learning of each immediately afterward. Although an age-related difference in the use of processing ease in judgments was observed with sentence pairs, for longer texts older and younger adults' judgments were similarly related to processing ease. In both experiments, age equivalence was also evident in the accuracy of the judgments at predicting performance on the criterion test. The overall pattern of results suggests that judging text learning remains largely intact with aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a redefinition of implicit memory: Process dissociations following elaborative processing and self-generation.

Does conceptual processing affect unconscious uses of memory? The authors used a process-dissociation procedure to separate automatic (unconscious) and consciously controlled uses of memory in a stem-completion task. Contrary to results from indirect test conditions, estimates derived from the procedure showed no effect of self-generation and no differential effect of semantic and nonsemantic study conditions on automatic uses of memory. These results provide evidence that (1) indirect tests are often contaminated by conscious uses of memory and (2) stem completion is highly dependent on prior perceptual (and perhaps lexical) processing. The experiments demonstrate the advantages of using process-dissociation procedures over comparisons between direct and indirect tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct versus indirect tests of memory for source: Judgments of modality.

We studied the relation between performance on direct versus indirect tests of memory for modality. Subjects read or heard words in a mixed list and then were tested by visual perceptual identification (the indirect test) and direct report of items as read, heard, or new. There was a dependent relation between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments, in accord with the hypothesis that subjects base their judgments of modality on relative perceptual fluency. In Experiment 2, we attempted to change the degree of dependence by providing subjects with an alternative basis for modality judgments. Subjects given a mnemonic to encode modality exhibited less dependence between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments than did subjects who encoded modality incidentally. The relation between direct and indirect tests of memory for source characteristics depends on the basis used for each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Same"–"different" judgments: A review of current controversies in perceptual comparisons.

Reviews the literature on 2 anomalous effects, the "fast-same" effect (FSE) and the criterion effect, found in the interpretation of same–different reaction-time data. No 2 models localize the FSE in the same information-processing stage or attribute the phenomenon to a common stimulus property or task demand. It is suggested that each of the models, or some combination of them, may account for particular instances of the FSE. Findings show that disjunctive same–different judgments differ from conjunctive judgments in both quantitative and qualitative respects. The criterion effect rules out models in which a dimensional comparison process underlies conjunctive different judgments, for such models have no provision for making disjunctive judgments contingent on a different process. It has been suggested that feature matching might be amenable to criterion-contingent processing modes, forming the basis of a unified model of same–different judgments. Another approach takes the view that the conjunctive same response is an absolute, rather than relative, judgment, giving rise to an attentional model. (4? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)